Job Description

Our client is a technology company solving payments problems for businesses. Their mission is to help businesses in Africa become profitable, envied, and loved. They provide a suite of products to help businesses accept payments online and offline, manage their operations, and grow their business. Our client is driven by a commitment to excellence, innovation, and customer satisfaction.

Our client is seeking an innovative and forward-thinking AML Transaction Monitoring Specialist to join their Risk and Compliance teams. They are looking for a professional with a strong analytical mindset and a passion for fighting financial crime. If you are deeply curious about tracing illicit activity and have proven experience in a fast-paced environment, this role is for you.

As an AML Transaction Monitoring Specialist you will be responsible for developing monitoring rules, reviewing, analyzing, and investigating financial transactions to detect and report potentially suspicious activities in accordance with applicable Anti-Money Laundering (AML) laws, regulations, and internal policies. This role is critical in ensuring the organization’s compliance with our global AML/CTF/CPF regulations.

A key part of your role will be preparing management reports for leadership, maintaining a compliance dashboard to track the effectiveness of our controls, and assisting with the annual ML/TF risk assessment. You will be a subject matter expert, providing guidance to internal teams and ensuring our client remains at the forefront of compliance best practices.

Job Type: Full Time/Permanent

Location: Cape Town

Work Place: Hybrid

Requirements

• Have 4+ years of experience in an AML/CFT compliance role focused on financial crime investigations and regulatory reporting.
• Demonstrate a strong working knowledge of AML/CFT regulations, including the reporting requirements and guidelines of the FIU and Regulators.
• Are proficient with data analysis tools, particularly SQL and Excel, and can leverage them to investigate complex financial data.
• Exhibit excellent investigative and problem-solving skills, with a high level of curiosity and meticulous attention to detail.
• Communicate complex ideas clearly and effectively, especially through precise and detailed written narratives for investigation files and regulatory reports.
• Are proactive and can manage a caseload independently, taking the initiative to see investigations through to completion.

Responsibilities

Transaction Monitoring:

• Conduct AML related risk assessments and collaborate with cross functional teams to design and enhance AML transaction monitoring rules and develop effective monitoring systems alerts.
• Manage a queue of complex alerts, conducting comprehensive investigations into potentially suspicious activity by analysing transactional data and reviewing all related merchant information.
• Analyze transaction patterns, customer profiles, and historical activity to determine legitimacy.

Investigation & Analysis:

• Conduct detailed investigations on flagged transactions.
• Identify trends, anomalies, and potential typologies associated with money laundering or other financial crimes.
• Leverage data tools like SQL and Excel to analyse transactional data, identify emerging money laundering typologies, and flag these trends for risk mitigation.

Documentation & Reporting:

• Document findings clearly and concisely with supporting evidence.
• Prepare detailed investigation narratives and draft Suspicious Transaction Reports (STRs) and other required filings in line with financial intelligence units across our operational jurisdictions.
• Escalate cases as appropriate and assist in the filing of Suspicious Activity Reports (SARs).
• Accurately document all investigation findings, including the evidence gathered and the rationale for your conclusions, ensuring all case files are complete and ready for regulatory review.
• Prepare management and board reports on suspicious transactions activities providing insight to the current AML risk landscape

Compliance & Risk Assessment:

• Collaborate with other compliance teams to ensure procedures are aligned with current AML laws and industry best practices.
• Participate in risk assessments related to products, customer behavior and transaction activity.

System Support:

• Partner with Product and Engineering teams by providing direct feedback on financial crime trends and rule performance to help refine and strengthen our detection and monitoring systems.
• Provide feedback to improve alert quality and reduce false positives.
• Assist in tuning and testing transaction monitoring systems and rules.

Training & Collaboration:

• Participate in ongoing training and stay up to date on AML regulations and typologies.
• Work closely with other Risk and Compliance teams such as Compliance Reviews, Fraud. And other cross functional team Legal, Product, Engineering as needed.
• Liaise with the financial intelligence units and law enforcement.